One of the oldest and most traditional forms of entertainment is the live show. Although many believe that formal live plays and musicals date back to the ancient civilizations, such as the Greeks, it can be imagined that they are even older still, starting with the first storyteller who acted out a character when telling a tale in front of a fire. Framed houses of entertainment, like the countless theatres that make up New York City's Broadway, share much with the Theatre of Dionysus that was built around 325 BCE in Athens. While sets and lighting have become far more intricate and technologically advanced than those of early theatres, the basic idea that the audience members will sit in a seat and watch a performance that is limited to a confined area and field of view remains.
With the advent of film, prerecorded movies and shows have facilitated changes in environment in a way not possible for a live event. Multiple or moving cameras allow for more lifelike scenes, as many can be filmed on location, and drastic changes can be seamlessly cut together. Again, however, the border of the screen, like the proscenium arch of the stage, clearly demarcates the boundary between the scene of entertainment and those who are watching it. Once more, the audience member sits in a seat and watches a performance take place in an essentially static environment.
There is another form of entertainment, however, that is very different from the arts described above. In this form of entertainment, the amusement park ride, participants are generally moved, occasionally at very high speeds, providing thrills not only from the changes of perspective, but also from the very fact of the motion. Such rides are generally designed to be confined to the boundaries of the amusement park, or a subset of the amusement park, and therefore are limited in functionality. They often are confined to a fixed immovable track, or wholly enclosed within a building. Also, because amusement parks require large numbers of patrons to absorb operating expenses, such rides are designed with brevity of duration in mind.
It is desirable to provide various improvements over known systems and methods of providing entertainment, including but not limited to the forms described above.